Imitation is the key to learning languages

Did you know that if you mimic someone’s accent, you’ll be able to better understand what they say? As playwright George Bernhard Shaw once said: “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of learning.”

That’s what psychologists at the UK’s University of Manchester and Holland’s Radboud University discovered in a study in 2010. The results showed that imitating the person you’re talking to helps your speech comprehension.

Imitation speeds up learning

In the 1970s, American psychologist Andrew N. Meltzoff identified so-called ‘social learning’, where people or animals observe and then copy their companions.

“Imitation accelerates learning and multiplies learning opportunities”, he noted. “It is faster than individual discovery and safer than learning by trial and error.”

Practise talking with a native speaker

So if you want to learn a new language, don’t just study books. Make contact with native speakers to set up a language exchange – you’ll learn, have fun and make new friends, all at the same time!

People who want to learn at any time and anywhere have met native speakers from all over the world on busuu.com, the online language-learning community. Its integrated video-chat function makes it easy to log in and start talking.

Don’t simply imitate your partner’s way of speaking, accent or intonation; try to mimic their gestures and facial expressions too. Not only will you sound like a native speaker, you’ll also act like one!

There are so many benefits to learning a language like this. As well as having a great time and enjoying interesting conversations, you’ll practise your observation and socialising skills.

Tell us what you think! What languages have you learnt by interacting with native speakers? What extra benefits have you found? And do you have any tips for successful conversations?

10 COMMENTS

I think what this study says is absolutely true. I’ve been learning Portuguese from my girlfriend for more than 1 year now and the feedback she or other native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese always give me is that the more I imitate them the better the result. Brazilians talk very loudly and very fast, and when you learn the language you need to adapt to their style (which for me as an Austrian was a bit difficult at the beginning). And really, the more you try to speak like them, the more easy it is to form correct sentences or remember common phrases. It helped me a lot and I think it’s the same thing with other languages.

i would like english language . . so i can not read or learnning this program . help me .
teaching my language in what base ? i could not up program .
i like comnucation . comphrention .. i do not know gramer . ./…. only gramer . i have weak gramer .
teaching me gramer . ok

Learn a language

Follow us

busuu is the language learning community that helps more than 80 million people to learn languages online. Check out the busuu blog for company news, new product features, tips and tricks to learn a language and cultural insights and stories.